• by Wayne Friedman , December 7, 2017

Consumers are turning to video-on-demand streaming, but they aren’t buying into many live video-streaming platforms.

A study by Market Strategies International says only 11% of all streamers pay for live-streaming TV platforms.

So-called virtual multichannel video program distributors that have live streaming of TV networks include DirecTV Now, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu with Live TV. With the exception of sports and news, research shows that viewing live content is currently not in high demand.

Overall, it lists the five top video-on-demand streaming services as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu/Hulu Plus, HBO Now and YouTube Red.

The research says 73% of those surveyed use streaming services, and 29% of those who stream have either canceled or downgraded their traditional TV services.

The combined qualitative and quantitative research study came from 3,260 consumers ages 18 and older from August 7, 2017 to August 25, 2017.

They were recruited from an opt-in online panel of 1,242 people. They met the final screening criterion — having used any paid streaming video service in the past. The online panel does not yield a random probability sample of the target population.

For the qualitative portion of the study, 40 individuals participated in an online moderated discussion boards from September 5, 2017 to September 20, 2017.

Other research has estimated that 3 million to 4 million TV consumers that have bought live TV services -- so-called virtual multichannel video program distributors.

Netflix continues to be the largest streaming platform, with around 53 million U.S. subscribers.